Is the Kony 2012 video real or are we being played . . . yet again? (Part 1)

No one is attacking the Kony video Glenn. There is indeed a time for taking bold action but, doing so without knowing all the facts beyond a video leaves us all vulnerable to potentially taking the wrong action that can result in disillusionment . . . for example, were you aware that there are reports (and I myself have not yet verified this so please do your own research), that there was a major oil find in Uganda? What do you think? Besides Mossadegh in 1952, does anyone recall our support of the Shah of Iran or Panama’s Manuel Noriega – both despots that went from being supported by America to being “brought to justice.” The thing is that these individuals were always despots the only thing that changed was foreign policy. Of course, remember how we supported the very Afghan rebels against whom so many American lives have been lost, when they were at war with the Soviets? Or our support of Saddam Hussein in his war with Iran . . . a hostile Iran of our own making as a result of the overthrow of the democratically elected Mossadegh. In short . . . it is reasonable to ask why Kony after all this time . . . are we and our sense of decency being played?

My comment in just one of the many Facebook comment streams regarding the Kony 2012 video

What is really amazing about the Kony 2012 video, something to which I was just introduced “virally” speaking yesterday, is the high degree of hostility one encounters when they swim against the current of mass opinion by asking honest questions in an effort to better understand the information being offered as fact.

Of course nowhere is the power of social networking and social media more aptly demonstrated than when one seeks to rally public sentiment through the use of visually upsetting imagery that can potentially obfuscate truth by inflaming strong emotions.

I often site the overthrow of the democratically elected Mossadegh government in Iran in 1952 by the United States at the request of then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, for no other reason than the leader’s intention to nationalize Iranian oil. Churchill of course championed the American efforts known as Operation Ajax based on the prompting of what later became the British Petroleum company, who feared that a democracy in Iran would deprive them of their controlling stake in and huge profits from the country’s rich oil fields. The overthrow of the government in Iran was justified under the banner of defending against a communist threat, a position that is contradictory in that the best way to repel encroaching communist interests would be the existence of a strong democratic government.

What is interesting is that it would not be unreasonable to link what happened in 1952 to the 9/11 attacks that cost so many innocent people their lives (http://wp.me/pydAP-22U). Talk about unintended consequences.

Here we are in 2012 and the news of a major oil strike in Uganda opens up questions yet again as to whether or not there are other forces at play with the Kony 2012 video. According to a November 25th, 2011 article in the New York Times, “billions of barrels of oil reserves were found in Uganda five years ago,” which at the time “seemed like a gift from heaven to many in this poor, landlocked country.”

Against the backdrop of growing fears that such a rich find opens the doors to corruption, especially in a country that is generally considered to be one of the “most corrupt nations in the world,” one cannot help but wonder if foreign policy or intervention under the banner of creating stability for the Ugandan people would once again be considered a necessary course of action. After all, if the emergence of democracy in Iran could result in a direct operation to undermine that government, imagine how much easier it would be to openly overthrow the Ugandan government . . . especially when public sentiments have been outraged by the visual atrocities of a video that has been viewed more than 55 million times.

This brings us back full circle to the main question . . . is the Kony video part of an orchestrated attempted to win public approval for foreign intervention in Uganda?

In part 2 of this series we will examine more closely those who would gain the most by Kony being brought to justice.

Okay please for 1 second take off the tin foil hat and realize that we aren’t invading, aren’t setting up military bases, and not becoming an extreme presence in Uganda with our military advisers. They have oil there? Good for them. The United States is sending a small group of people with military experience to try and aid in hunting down a group of murderous and violet men. Most importantly we are working with the Ugandan military since they have a vested interest in hunting down this man even though he is not in Uganda and is spreading into other countries. Thank you.

To begin, I am not certain as to why responses to honest and reasonable questions are met with hostility and insults re “take off the tin foil hat.” Scrutinizing and challenging information is both fair minded and actually quite respectful of the subject being discussed.

That said, did not Vietnam for example begin as a small or minor police action? What about Korea which with the unexpected intervention by China soon turned the “police action” (as Truman called it) into a bloody stalemate. In fact, most interventions that ultimately scaled up started out this same way . . . in an advisory or observation role.

You also fail to respond to the examples cited in the article re Mossadegh as this might incline some to believe that there is a history or pattern of “intervention.” One also has to wonder if oil had not been found in Uganda to the extent that it has, what if any involvement would you see from the U.S.

Perhaps, and knowing the growing sentiment of the American public for further military intervention in foreign lands, maybe just maybe there is a little more to this story than meets the eye? After all, this has been going on in Uganda for 20 years, as well as in other African nations including Zimbabwe, Sudan, Sierra Leone and Rwanda to name only a few. In fact, and according to UN statistics in the Democratic Republic of Congo 30,000 children were also inducted into that country’s war in 1998.

Re – watch Enemy of The State (1998) then explain to me why they can’t / couldn’t locate Kony in 10 minutes with 2012 NSA technology. Then given the latest killer drone technology, another 3 minutes to “destroy the target” with an “acceptable” amount of collateral damage. Given the US corpgov’s definition of enemy of the state I’m sure they could gin up a justification just like they did when they whacked some OBL doppelganger in 2011. Sorry, but it appears that, for whatever reason, this is ANOTHER problem the PTB don’t REALLY want to go away too quickly. Now if Kony were threatening to start an independent African banking system, (like Gadaffi was), we would now be blogging about him posthumously…

I am an American missionary who currently lives in Uganda and has lived here 14 years. This thing with Kony is really about money. In the 20+ years that Kony was killing thousands there was no intervention by an outside country. Yet it was happening. The minute there was oil found here, then the British sent people over to “assist”. Now there are “military experts” assisting as well. If there is no foreign interest then nothing gets done. The genocide in Rwanda killed thousands, nothing was done. Why is that? If the big 1st world countries cannot benefit in one form or another, then there is no help. However, Kony was chased out of Uganda years ago. AND these young men are making a nice pretty penny. Now THEY will be famous.

Indeed, great article. I truly believe that before we can bring another country’s war criminals to justice, we have to do that with our own.

When this video was posted, I knew then there was an ulterior motive; didn’t know they found oil. That explains a lot. I hope all these people in support of KONY 2012 are prepared to go and help fight off their own soldiers if this goes downhill.

[…] About piblogger Author and Host of the PI Window on Business Show on Blog Talk Radio. View all posts by piblogger This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 13th, 2012 at 9:08 pm and tagged with British Petroleum, Eisenhower Administration, human trafficking, Kony 2012, manuel noriega, Mohammad Mossadegh, Saddam Hussein, SAVIK, Shah of Iran, Uganda and posted in Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. « Is the Kony 2012 video real or are we being played . . . yet again? (Part 1) […]